Half to geoege h



(No Model.)

A. O. NIEDLANDER.

GAR COUPLING.

' No. 881,718. Patented 001. 28, 1888.

@'Illlllllllllllllmllllllll E] l A 1 MIJ/ESSE?. MENOR Imran artnr MMSE@ ALLEN O. NIEDLANDER, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO GEORGE H. MILLER, OF SAME PLAGE.

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SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,719, dated October 23, 1888.

Application filed J une 21, 1888. Serial No. 277,761. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN O. N IEDLANDER,

of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts.

My invention relates to the consti-notion of car-couplers, and will be understood from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a top view of my device, showing the ends of two cars coupled. Fig. 2 isa side view of the same on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is an end view showing the hooks dropped down.

In detail, c represents a car, and to each end of this is connected a coupler, which consists of a shank, sh, made of any suitable material, having buffers b formed integral therewith, each of these buffers being provided with a drawbar, cZ, with a spring, sp, near the rear, as shown in Fig. 2. These buffers have openings through which passes a rod, r, having levers Z formed at each end.

It will be understood that between the four bul-fers there are three openings, as shown in Fig. 1, and in the outer one of these openings, upon the rod r, are hooks h, which are preferably formed integral with the rod, and are in any event rigidly connected thereto. The center opening in Fig. lis left withoutany hook, but in Fig. 3 is shown another hook, h, loosely mounted on the rod, which is intended to be used in case one of the other hooks breaks.

The device operates as follows: By means of the lever Z the hooks h are thrown up and backward in position for coupling on each car. Vhen the cars are brought together by means ofthe levers Z, the hooks are thrown down, so as to couple over the rod of the adjacent car in the manner shown in Fig. l. The hook h being loose on the rod 7 hangs down out of the way and may be raised by hand when itis necessary for use, but, as said before, this loose hook is only to be used in case of accident, when one of the outside rigid hooks 7a is broken or twisted so that it will not operate. If there 5o were no means provided for such an emergency, the strain would be altogether upon the hook at the opposite end, but the central hook, h, being loose on the rod r, may be slipped along and coupled upon the rod of the adja- 55 cent car, and it will hold firmly and relieve the other hook from the additional strain.

The lever Z may be made long or short, as desired. In the drawingsit is shown so that it may be operated by the brakeinan from the side of 6o the car without going between the cars, or, if desired, this lever may be carried up along the side of the car and have a handfwheel upon the top and be operated from the top of the car, or it may be connected by means ofa chain it will be readily seen that with a slight me- 7o chanical change it may be made to operate from the top of the car, if desired.

Ihe number of buffers andsprings may be varied to suit the economy or the desire of the carbuilder, my invention consisting in operating one or more rigid hooks mounted on a rod which passes through the ends of' the buffers by a lever either at the side or from the top of the car.

It will be seen that by this construction the 8o car is always rinly held in line with that which precedes it, andin going around a curve, where the tendency is for the flange of the inner wheel to hug the tread of the rail and the ilange of the outer wheel to pull away from its rail, it will be seen that the grip of the outer hook is tightened while that of the inner hook is loosened, and the result is to draw the-fiange of the wheel away from the inner rail, and

thus relieve the friction at that point and to 9c draw the other wheel of the car toward the outer rail, thus insuring much greater ease and freedom of movement and making it easier for the engine to pull the load.,

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

l. A car-coupler comprising two or more buffers, b, rod r, passing through these buffers,

having two or more hooks` h. rigidly connected l ers connected to the end of the car, snljstan- Io to such rod, with means, such as levers l, contiitlly as shown and described. neeted at the outer ends of the rod for oper- In witness whereof I have hereunto set my ating the hooks to couple and unconple the hand this 16th day of June, 1888.

5 ears, substantially as shown and described.

2. A eareonpler composed of the rod i, can ALLEN O' NIEDLA'NDER' Tying outer rigid hooks, h, a central hook, h', Vitnessfs: loosely mounted on such rol. and a lever, Z, at C. P. JACOBS,

the end thereof, such rod passing through buffl G. H. MILLER. 

